Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 

About: Natural Language and Linguistic Theory is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Verb & Syntax. It has an ISSN identifier of 0167-806X. Over the lifetime, 937 publications have been published receiving 49208 citations.

Differential Object Marking: Iconicity vs. Economy

Abstract: A formal approach to the typology of differential object marking (DOM) is developed within the framework of Optimality Theory. The functional/typological literature has established that variation in DOM is structured by the dimensions of animacy and definiteness, with degree of prominence on these dimensions directly correlated with the likelihood of overt case-marking. In the present analysis, the degree to which DOM penetrates the class of objects reflects the tension between two types of principles. One involves iconicity: the more marked a direct object qua object, the more likely it is to be overtly case-marked. The other is a principle of economy: avoid case-marking. The tension between the two principles is resolved differently in different languages, as determined by language-particular ranking of the corresponding constraints. Constraints expressing object markedness are derived throughharmonic alignment of prominence scales. Harmonic alignment predicts a corresponding phenomenon ofdifferential subject marking. This too exists, though in a less articulated form.

Parametrizing Agr: Word Order, V-Movement and Epp-Checking

Abstract: The paper investigates a number of asymmetries in the behavior of subjects in Germanic, Celtic/Arabic, Romance, and Greek. The languages under investigation divide into two main groups with respect to a cluster of properties, including the availability of pro-drop with referential subjects, the possibility of VSO/VOS orders, the A/A′ status of subjects in SVO orders, the presence/absence of Definiteness Restriction (DR)-effects in unaccusative constructions, the existence of verb-raising independently of V-2, and others. We argue that the key factor in this split is a parametrization in the way the Extended Projection Principle (EPP) is checked: move/merge XP vs. move/merge X0. The first option is taken in Germanic, the second in Celtic, Greek, and Romance. According to our proposal, the EPP relates to checking of a nominal feature of AGR (cf. Chomsky 1995), and move/merge X0 languages satisfy the EPP via V-raising, as their verbal agreement morphology includes the requisite nominal feature (cf. Taraldsen 1978). Moreover, we demonstrate that the further differences that exist between Celtic/Arabic on the one hand and Romance/Greek on the other are related to the parametric availability of Spec,TP for subjects (cf. Jonas and Bobaljik 1993, Bobaljik and Jonas 1996). In Celtic and Arabic, Spec,TP for subjects is licensed, resulting in VSO orders with VP external subjects. In Greek and Romance, Spec,TP is not licensed, resulting in 'subject inverted' orders with VP internal subjects. In other words, we show that within the class of move/merge X0 languages, a further partition emerges which is due to the same parameter dividing Germanic languages into two major classes. We demonstrate that combining the proposed EPP/AGR parameter with the Spec,TP parameter gives four language-types with distinct properties.

Foot and word in prosodic morphology: The Arabic broken plural

Abstract: This article proposes a theory of prosodic domain circumscription, by means of which rules sensitive to morphological domain may be restricted to a prosodically characterized (sub-)domain in a word or stem. The theory is illustrated primarily by a comprehensive analysis of the Arabic broken plural; it is further supported by analysis of a number of processes from other languages, yielding a formal typology of domain-circumscription effects. The results obtained here depend on, and therefore confirm, two central principles of Prosodic Morphology: (1) the Prosodic Morphology Hypothesis, which requires that templates be expressed in prosodic, not segmental terms; and (2) the Template Satisfaction Condition, which requires that all elements in templates are satisfied obligatorily.

Aspect shift and coercion

Abstract: This paper develops an analysis of aspect shift and applies it to French and English. The Progressive, the Perfect/Parfait, and duration adverbials introduced by in or for are interpreted as aspectual operators which modify eventuality descriptions. The French past tenses are sensitive to aspect, but they do not change the aspectual class of the eventuality description themselves. Instead, they presuppose that the eventuality description they operate on is of the right aspectual type: the Passee Simple and Imparfait are tense operators which locate respectively events and states in the past. Free aspectual transitions may be triggered by coercion in order to satisfy the aspectual requirements on aspectual and temporal operators. The analysis is formulated within the framework of Discourse Representation Theory (DRT).